Avianca, the only airline that connects Colombia directly and nonstop with the United Kingdom, celebrates the first 10 years of operation of the iconic Bogotá-London-Bogotá route.
The first flight took off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá on July 3, 2014, bound for Heathrow, one of the four busiest airports in London. The route was flown on an Airbus A330 with 227 passengers and 13 crew members on board.
Since 2014, more than 1.2 million people have flown between the two destinations thanks to this operation. The success and consolidation of the Bogotá-London-Bogotá route have been largely driven by the lifting of the visa requirement for Colombian and Peruvian citizens entering the U.K., starting in October 2022.
“We are very proud to mark 10 years of connecting the U.K. and Latin America directly, via Colombia and Bogotá, said Rolando Damas, Avianca’s sales director for North America, Central America, Europe, and the Caribbean. “We hope that many more decades will follow, allowing even more people to fly to and from London, and enabling more travellers from Europe to visit Latin America.” George Hodgson, British Ambassador to Colombia, added: “As more Colombians show interest in tourism, business, or studying in the U.K., and more Brits discover Colombia, Avianca’s daily direct flight has undoubtedly been a crucial asset in connecting our countries.”
Today, Avianca customers have seven weekly flights between Bogotá and London, and this is one of seven routes and more than 50 weekly flights offered by the airline to connect to and from Europe, including: Madrid-Bogotá, Madrid-Medellín, Madrid-Cali, Madrid-San Salvador, Barcelona-Bogotá, and most recently, Bogotá-Paris.
In this way, alongside its operations in the Americas, Avianca offers its travellers more than 140 routes connecting to over 75 destinations in more than 25 countries.